“That is why we have to take into consideration the concerns that the British government has put forward”.
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The George Osborne road show kicks off this week, as the Chancellor of the Exchequer, below, sets out to convince colleagues in various European capitals why they should be supporting Britain’s push for reform within the European Union.
During meetings with Sweden’s prime minister Stefan Lofven and Denmark’s premier Lars Lokke Rasmussen, as well as foreign and finance ministers, he will warn that reform is key to the future of the EU.
Mr Osborne’s talks will focus on expanding trade with growing economies as well as protecting the rights of non-Eurozone countries as the single currency block continues to integrate further. “Britain is a very open economy, probably the most open of the largest economies, and we are affected by what happens, whether it is problems in the euro zone, problems in Asian financial markets”.
“It would be a travesty to both, for Europe and the UK, were the UK to leave the union”, Stubb told newsmen after meeting Osborne.
A wave of public support in recent months demonstrates that now is the right time for such change, he is expected to say.
The sense of common ground shared by London will not only boost the UK’s bid to reform the bloc, but it will also help in appeasing the Eurosceptic attitudes and strong rhetoric on immigration in some parts of northern Europe.
The Chancellor will highlight reforms that have already been achieved by Britain, working with like-minded countries in the EU, including the cut in the EU budget in 2012 and the strengthened deal struck earlier this month to ring-fence British taxpayers’ money when the eurozone offers a new programme of financial assistance to Greece.
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David Cameron has promised to renegotiate the UK’s relationship with the EU ahead of an in/out referendum and talks have begun between British officials and counterparts in Brussels.
